Monday Moanin’

I shut off the alarm and went back to sleep on Monday. I woke up at 7:00 a.m., which meant I was 15 minutes late for work!

I went to the Newburgh Grille for lunch. I got a cup of their beef vegetable soup and a patty melt. Then I went down to CVS and got a birthday card for my sister-in-law, Jean.

It snowed lightly in the afternoon, but driving home was no problem.

I took the plastic off the desk, just so I wasn’t trapping anything under it for the next week. Then I gathered all the trash up for Tuesday morning.

I had several food things I need to use up, so I started making my dinner early (for me, anyway.) I sautéed a container of sliced button mushrooms, with some diced onions and four cloves of minced garlic. I seasoned them with just salt and pepper and then set them aside to cool.

I took my three fat boneless, skinless chicken breasts and, using a thin knife, cut a pocket in each of them, starting at the small end. Then I mixed a handful of mozzarella cheese with the mushroom mix and stuffed each chicken breast as full as I could.

I went to get some Italian bread crumbs and found I had less than a cup left. Damn! So, I added in about the same amount of grated Parmesan cheese and mixed them together.

I turned the oven on to 400 degrees F. and then melted some butter and canola oil in my 12-inch skillet. I breaded each chicken breast in the bread crumb/cheese mixture and then browned them in the skillet.

When I had a nice crust on them, I stuck the pan in the oven to finish them off. I made some of the Uncle Ben’s buttered rice (the 90 second microwave package) for my side.

When I had a 165 degree F. internal temperature in the chicken, I pulled it out of the oven. I took one breast, plated it and then cut it in half. I added some of the rice and dinner was served!

It was very, very good for something I just made up.

There was nothing much on TV, so I read a book until bedtime. When they had cooled, I put the other two chicken breasts in the fridge along with the rest of the rice. I washed up the skillet and ran the dishwasher. So, I was golden!